Ways to Participate in Transforming the World

What will I do to participate in the transformation of the world? I love this question.

I used to be intimidated by it. It's a Big Question. Big like your arms as far apart as they can go, Grand Canyon, deep blue sea Big.

It would seem, then, that it would need to have a Big Answer. Nothing short of ending inequality, war, famine.

And these are critical causes. They are also HUGE causes. They require many many hearts, heads, wallets.

If you're sitting on the sofa in the suburbs with a kid, a mortgage, and dirty laundry to do, those can seem pretty remote in the context of your life.

But here's why I love this question: it doesn't need a Big Answer. Saying, "I love you," when we get off the phone and putting whatever change we can spare in every tip jar are such human ways to transform the world.

Or learning our neighbors' names, holding the door, buying a stranger a coffee, cheering at the top of our lungs for marathon runners we don't know. Done regularly, these are all ways to participate in transforming this place of ours in the universe.

So when it comes to the big questions of changing the world, we need not always respond with a HUGE plan to transform the planet. A small and steady answer is powerful, too.

The Lightning Notes is funded by kind donors. If something here strikes you, I'd be grateful if you'd consider donating. Click to Donate!